Artificial fishing lures shaped like spoons are well known. Most have a hook and weedguard attached by soldering, welding or by a screw means such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,869,821. They are commonly called spoons because of their body shape. They are attached to fishing lines and pulled through the water where they assume a horizontal position. Spoons are usually metal with a high polished or bright painted scheme to attract fish. The spoon shape is designed to ensure that the lure will not rise to the top of the water at high trolling speeds.
A typical spoon is disclosed in C. F. Pflueger U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,766 issued on Feb. 26, 1935 for "Trolling Spoon". It incorporates a removable hook and weedguard secured screws. The screws are a labor intensive means to assemble the device, adversely affect the action of the lure when trolled, and work loss and fail.
H. C. Toepper U.S. Pat. No. 2,167,163 issued on July 25, 1939 illustrates a spoon assembly which attempts to solve the problems created by screws. A lug is pressed snugly against the loop of the eye retaining both weedguard and hook permanently to the spoon body. The screws are eliminated but the result is a non-removable hook and weedguard.
R. C. Arnold in U.S. Pat. No. 2,519,338 issued Aug. 22, 1950 illustrates the continued reliance on screws for securing removable weedguards and hooks.
C. F. Mellin illustrates the persistence of screws in U.S. Pat. No. 2,619,764 issued Dec. 2, 1952. He teaches a removable hook and weedguard both retained by a screw.
A still further example of the persistence of the use of screws to secure hooks and weedguards is issued to R. O. Tibbetts in U.S. Pat. No. 2,895,252 issued July 21, 1959.
Thus the industry has accepted the inevitable use of screws to secure hooks and weedguards to spoons but a few are valiantly trying to improve the art and avoid the penalties extracted by the screw.
D. F. Hyland in U.S. Pat. No. 2,567,813 issued Sept. 11, 1951 teaches a removable hook which is retained by a snap but the weedguard is part of the stamped spoon body and not removable.
E. A. Ebert in U.S. Pat. No. 2,989,816 issued June 27, 1961 avoids the screw but the hook and weedguard are not removable.
The foregoing represents the various attempts to improve spoon type artificial baits. They all have one thing in common--they are costly and thus the spoons are not economically feasible to manufacture.
Soldering or welding have been used as an alternative to screws and crimping but the spoon, hook and weedguard have to be jigged to hold the parts during joining. When the parts are soldered or welded, they are annealed by the heat required to perfect the bonding. Because of the annealing which takes the temper out of the metal, the entire assembled spoon must be heat-treated to make the weedguard harden enough to be springy again.
The soldering or welding and heat-treating cause the assembly to be unsightly and it must be cleaned and polished to receive any plating that may be desired.
Polishing the assembled spoon is a very dangerous procedure due to the sharp pointed hook and weedguard. Because the hook and weedguard are attached, each spoon must be polished one at a time.
A further disadvantage resulting from soldering or welding is the effects of the required pickling acids on equipment, buildings and personnel.
With the present invention, both the manufacturer and end user gains. Some of the gains to the manufacturer have been eluded to. Exemplary gains to the end user follow:
When a soldered or crimped spoon breaks either the hook or the weedguard is useless and the metal spoon is thrown away. This wastefulness can be eliminated if the parts are replaceable. Screws provide this advantage but require a repair facility that is not normally available at the fishing site.
In summary, present day spoons are lacking because hooks, if removable, cannot be removed without tools, hooks and/or weedguards cannot be rapidly changed when a different size is desired, and weedguards cannot be added or removed as required.